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Author's Chapter Notes:
Abby and Ziva suffer the aftermath of their wine filled evening, and the makings of a plan is hatched at the dinner party at Gibbs' house.
Chapter eighteen

”Ooh, Loord…my head…,” Quiet moaning from the other side of the bed got her attention as Ziva fought to lift the alcohol induced fog from her brain. She managed to pry one eye open as she squinted at the dark haired woman lying next to her. Abby looked dead to the world. Her face pale against the dark blue pillow and her hair in complete disarray.

“I think I need Tony’s special hangover remedy,” she croaked.

“That god awful stuff he had at the office?”

“No, no, no…his very special brew, for emergencies only.”

“Sorry, Abs, he’s not here. We didn’t drink THAT much wine last night.”

In spite of herself Abby had to laugh, before moaning loudly as this caused her head to ache even more.

“A threesome, now there’s an idea…” Clearly Abby was not gonna let this go. Ziva found it quite amazing she had the energy to crack jokes at all.

“Abby, please, not now… we have to get up.”

Ziva swung her legs out of bed and immediately regretted having moved at all. After waiting a minute, as a wave of nausea surged through her, Ziva shuffled over to the window, needing fresh air. The cool breeze did little to ease the pain throbbing behind her left eye, but it felt wonderful against her skin.

They had finished another bottle of wine before calling it a night. Or, early morning, if she remembered correctly. They’d watched the early morning glow above the park before climbing into bed. She vaguely remembered getting to bed, but not much more. Squinting again, she located her cell phone and checked the time. Noon. Great. They had to get up. A few miles around the park would cure her hangover. She chose not to think of the kind of remedies the Goth lying in her bed would use.

Digging out her running gear, she once again tried to get Abby up. A low growl was all the response she got, as dark hair disappeared back under the covers. Heading out, she grabbed her wallet, meaning to buy something they could keep down for breakfast. She tied her hair in a ponytail and took a couple of tentative steps towards the park. The sun stabbed her in the eyes as she realized she’d forgotten her sunglasses. Sighing deeply, she headed back upstairs. There was no way she’d be able to stay outside, much less run if she didn’t have some kind of protection from the sun.

About an hour later she was back, having completed most of her usual round. The trick was running through the pain, and nausea, as it were. She’d even managed to pick up a CafPow for Abby, some fresh bagels and the Washington Post on her way. Ziva loved the weekend editions; they were made for long breakfasts on her balcony, armed with a Danish and coffee.

She walked into her apartment; curious to see whether Abby was up or not. The sound of running water coming from the partially open door, told her that her guest was indeed up and about. Smiling, she popped her head in through the bathroom door.

“Coffee, tea or a Bloody Mary?”

A groan from behind the shower curtain was all she got.

“Breakfast in half an hour. We need to go shopping for dinner tonight.”

Abby pulled the curtain aside and stood there in all her naked glory. She stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in one of Ziva’s big soft towels.

“You sure we can keep it down?”

“No…” Ziva replied as she stripped out of her soaked clothes and stepped into the warm water, “but I’d rather feel sick than listen to Tony tease me about this for a week.”

All Ziva could make out was some indistinct mumbling, the hot water cascading down her body drowned out Abby’s reply.

“What?”

Abby popped her head around the curtain, “I just said I’ll make some tea. You want some?”

“Yeah, I’ll be out soon.”

Abby disappeared again. A loud squeal that seemed to reverberate in her head told Ziva she’d found her jumbo sized CafPow. The shower curtain was flung aside and she found herself with an armful of Abby.

“You’re the best, Ziva!” she exclaimed, kissed her soundly and then she was off again.

Groaning loudly, Ziva ducked her head back under the hot water, wondering how on earth she was going to survive a whole day with the energizer bunny roaming around her kitchen.

******
“I thought this was a full service deal,” Tony complained for the umpteenth time as he stood scrubbing used pots and pans in the kitchen. Abby and Gibbs were in the living room, enjoying a second bowl of coffee flavored ice cream.

“Stop yanking my chain,” Ziva hissed.

Tony straightened up and looked her in the eye, laughter sparkling in his green eyes.

“I find it fascinating that you should know that particular colloquialism, Zee-vah. Anything you wanna share?”

“What?”

“Like being restrained do, ya? Any pink fluffy handcuffs in your bedside drawer?”

“Ah, I see,” she grinned, an expression flickering over her face that Tony couldn’t quite decipher.

“If…IF I had such items, Tony, they would not be pink and fluffy.” She looked at Gibbs’ senior agent as he leaned against the kitchen counter, taking a long swig of his beer.

“And Gibbs, does he enjoy chaining you to his bed?” She asked in her sweetest, most innocent voice, smiling happily as Tony nearly choked on his beer.

“What?” Tony sputtered as he could feel a deep blush spread across his face. He turned towards the sink again, trying to regain some sort of composure. He cleared his throat, wanting desperately to come up with a glib reply. A hand rested on the small of his back as Ziva spoke quietly into his ear.

“It’s okay, Tony. I know.” She put her arms around him, drawing him into a warm embrace. “I just put the pieces together yesterday. I should have seen it ages ago.”

Tony found he couldn’t deny it. “It’s only been a week,” he croaked. “But I’ve loved him for years, Ziva,” he whispered, tightening his hold on her. “Shit, shit, shit,” he exclaimed. “Now everybody knows! So much for discretion and lying low.”

“I won’t tell anyone, Tony. I wouldn’t do that to a friend,” she assured him.

“I need something strong,” he sighed, heading back into the living room. Gibbs cocked an eyebrow as he grabbed the bourbon and filled two shot glasses to the brim before downing them in one go.

“Ziva knows,” he coughed, trying to catch his breath.

“Oh…”

“This is wonderful,” Abby exclaimed. “It is wonderful, right, Ziva?”

Gibbs looked over at Ziva who was hovering in the doorway.

“And?”

She looked momentarily puzzled at the question directed at her.

“And..? I don’t understand.”

“Now that you know Tony and I are in love, does that change the way you feel about us? More specifically, about helping us with getting Shepard of our case?” Gibbs explained slowly, enunciating every word.

Tony felt a surge of joy soar through him at this public declaration of love. He ducked his head, trying to hide the smile he couldn’t repress.

“Aww, you’re so cute together,” Abby sighed as she hugged him before disappearing into the hallway. He could hear her rummage around out there, but Ziva soon had his full attention. Gibbs’ question brought color to her cheeks and her eyes flared momentarily before she regained her composure.

“You being…” she hesitated.

“Involved? An item? Dating? Bi?” Tony supplied, offering Ziva a drink, before sitting down on the couch.

“Tony…” Gibbs sounded exasperated.

“Sorry, boss.”

“Well, yes, all of the above,” Ziva continued, “will of course change my conception of you.”

She raised a hand when she saw Tony moving to get up.

“But, not because of your sexuality, as such. This has more to do with me never imagining either of you being interested in anything but women. Tony has fed me enough stories of his sexual conquests in the past few years to last me a lifetime, and you,” she looked at Gibbs, “well, you’ve been married. More than once or twice,” she smiled. “I trust you keep your personal life out of the office, as you’ve done so far. And it certainly does not change how I feel about Shepard’s vendetta.”

Tony relaxed visibly as he sank back into the sofa. “Thank you, Ziva.”

Gibbs straightened up in his chair and called out for their missing guest.

“Abs? You gonna join us again any time soon?”

“In a minute!” she hollered, as the rummaging continued, “I’m sure I put them in my bag…” She trailed off as she continued her search.

Gibbs took another sip of his orange juice as he seemed to contemplate what Ziva said.

“We’ll keep it out of the office, Ziva, no worries. I’ll still smack Tony over the head if he misbehaves.”

“And make it up to me when we…”

“Tony!”

“You’ll have your hands full,” Ziva shook her head as she finished her drink.

“Yeah, well, I’m worth it,” Tony stated, well pleased to see the smile flickering across Gibbs’ face.

“Finally!” Abby returned to the living room, carrying a couple of bags, which she put in the middle of the coffee table.

“Whatcha got there, Abs?” Tony moved to open the closest bag only to have his hand smacked away.

“I have this friend who sells what we need online. He sent me this stuff that I think we’re gonna need when we take on Shepard. I know we can’t sign out stuff at the office, in case she's monitoring us.”

“What is this stuff?”

“Just some basic surveillance stuff. Hidden mikes, cameras, just stuff.” She emptied the bag, and Ziva gasped.

“Abby! This is top of the line gear. Where on earth did you get this?”

“He’s just a friend,” Abby shrugged. “Just someone I used to date once.”

“This is what I’ve been thinking,” Ziva began. “Tony’s the one that really gets under her skin. She will try to get you off the team with any means possible.”

“You think he can be in danger?” Abby sounded alarmed.

“Yes, I do,” Ziva stated calmly. She turned to Tony, “At the same time, you’re the one that can make her reveal her true nature, her true intentions.”

“There’s no point in planning anything before I’ve had my psych evaluation,” Tony continued. “She’s probably banking on me flunking the test, making it easy for her to remove me from duty.”

“You need to be prepared for the psychiatrist to be armed with information from your past. I don’t put it past her to dig up any dirt she can find,” Gibbs warned. “You need to keep your cool and be prepared for anything.”

“I was a Boy Scout, Jethro, I’m always prepared,” he grinned, reaching out to capture Gibbs’ hand, squeezing it lightly before letting go.

“Is there …dirt… to be found?” Abby asked hesitantly.

“Oh, yeah…” Tony sighed. “Well, at least loads of ammo for the head doctor. My childhood is any shrink’s dream, I’m afraid.”

“I’ve asked McGee to come by next week. He’ll see if he can get into her files. As long as it can’t be traced back to him, I can’t have another team member jeopardized.” Gibbs interjected.

“Uhm…” Abby had raised a hand.

“Yes, Abby?” Gibbs looked at her, wondering what she had to say.

“I…ah…have a friend…”
Chapter End Notes:
Only having a bit of fun with my favorite guys :)

Hilde
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